At the Edge of Shadows
by Cosmic Sky
Summary: Spoilers for those who haven't seen TSF, TSB. Blake thought running would be the safest option for her loved ones and herself, at least until Sun ended up with a two inch hole above his heart. A hypothetical look at the aftermath of Blake and Sun's little run in with Ilia and Sun's recovery.


**In light of last episode's shit hitting the fan I decided to write this based off of what was personally the most heart-stopping moment of "Two Steps Forward, Two Steps Back". Here's crossing my fingers that Sun's not dead, I mean seriously, he deserves better than this!**

 **Okay, rant over. I do not own anything.**

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Blake found it hard to remember a time when silence wasn't her friend, sometimes the best friend she had, sometimes her only friend. In time though the friendship had turned sour like many things in her life. The betrayal had stung her deeply, some days more than others. This unfortunately was one of those days. At this moment silence wasn't her friend, it was her torturer and apparently it was enjoying its job. Every second that passed with barely a sound being heard was madness to her. Her feline ears picked up the tiniest sounds, noises no human ear could possible hear, yet that only added to her already distressed state of mind. It was maddening to have the short intervals of silence broken up by the occasional groan, scream, moan, or prickling of flesh.

No matter what she couldn't win, if she wanted silence her already frantic mind would run wild, but if she wanted noise then she'd have to endure the sound of her only companion fighting for his life. Faced with those options she wanted to run as far as possible from this place. Another voice rose in her head to counter that one, this was her home, her one and only place of absolute safety.

And less than two hours ago it had been breached.

 _If the White Fang know I'm here then, no, they've always known I was here. Ever since those…those two showed up._ At last she had something else to focus on other than Sun's fatal condition and that something was rage. Sun's faint moaning stoked the fires of hatred that had already been smoldering inside of her. The White Fang had violated her home and harmed one of the few friends she had left, not mention based on what she heard from her father made an attempt at vandalism. Blake didn't think her hatred of her former brothers-in-arms could get any deeper, but it had. Her fingers angrily dug into her knees as a low growl fell through her clenched lips. The two emotions, anger and sadness, went back and forth at each other like wildcats over a fresh kill.

"You know if you went storming out of here the minute that boy awoke he'd probably be chasing after you, even if it meant reopening that wound on his chest." Boomed a stern yet calm voice. Jerking her head up Blake was met with the imposing figure of her father holding two cups of tea in his hands. Setting eyes on her his face morphed into a forgiving frown she was all too familiar with. "Based on that look I'm guessing you're torn between the desire to hunt and the desire to stay here and make sure that boy makes it through the night."

Sitting cross legged beside her he offered her one of the two cups and she took it with trembling hands. She took three sips before speaking in a hushed voice, "Isn't this the part where you tell me I should be doing the later instead of the former?"

"You're an adult now, or at least that's what your mother tells me. You should be able to tell where your priorities lie by this point." Ghira spoke after a heavy silence that left his daughter feeling uneasy. "The fact you _haven't_ left already tells me you've made your decision." Placing a firm hand on her shoulders he began, "Have a little faith in your mother's abilities, she's dealt with worse injuries than that. Believe me when you I tell you that." He added proudly thumping his chest.

For the first time in perhaps two hours Blake was able to feel herself smiling. "I thought you hated Sun?"

"Oh I do, the boy's incredibly annoying not to mention he's trying to court my one and only daughter." Ghira rumbled with true irritation in his voice. Just as quickly as it was there the anger vanished, replaced by something lighter and his face softened. "That being said…he left his home, his team, crossed the sea, and put his life on the line to protect yours. He's a fool, but…he's a noble fool I'm indebted to for looking after you."

"You know I could have made it back home by myself. It's like you said, I'm an adult now."

Though he was smiling on the outside mentally Ghira was shaking his head in firm denial. _No Blake, your mother said that, I never did._ As proud as he was of his daughter it was clear she still had a lot of growing up left to do. The Battle of Beacon had both helped and hindered her in doing so. While his daughter continued to drink to calm her nerves Ghira faced forward with a dark expression on his bearded face. News of the outside world was relatively scarce in Menagerie, not to mention in some ways filtered. Most news that came was carried by vacationers and travelers passing things along by word of mouth, by that time it was entirely possible for the original story to have changed or flat out morphed into something entirely different. Based on what his daughter and her companion had told him someone had been using that to their advantage. _Hear I thought I'd be able to retire in some relative peace and quiet._ Admittedly a part of him had been severely disappointed when Blake and Sun told them of not just the Fall of Beacon but everything proceeding to it. Someone was attempting to break the somewhat tenuous peace the four kingdoms had worked so hard to maintain, and unfortunately succeeding.

Blake was half way through her tea when she stopped hearing Sun's hollow voice. It seemed as if her entire body froze and the tea cup in her hands threatened to slip from her grip. Even her own heart seemed to skip a beat before resuming in an ominous rhythm. What came next was the sound of her mother packing up her tools; she couldn't tell if her breathing was relieved or a sigh of wasted effort. Somewhere in the back of her mind she thought she could hear herself praying for the life of her companion. Blake rarely prayed, she'd never seen the point of it since it seemed so often prayers went unanswered. Maybe it was the combined stress of everything that had happened but she did begin to pray in her mind. _I've already hurt enough people, just please, don't take Sun away. Not from Neptune, his team…not from me._ A pair of firm warm hands fell over hers'. "Dad…did I do the right thing coming back here?"

"Do you plan on running away again?" Ghira asked not in an accusing tone. "If you hadn't come back home where would you have gone?"

"Anywhere people wouldn't get hurt!" She screamed throwing the tea cup away then hurling herself into her father's arms. "I would have spent the rest of my life wondering the desert if it meant keeping everyone I love safe!"

"Do you really believe condemning yourself is keeping the people you love safe?" He calmly countered rubbing her head the same way he used to do as a child. Doing so only reaffirmed to him his Blake hadn't quite become an adult just yet. "Blake, if you did that I'm pretty sure that idiot monkey would have followed you into the heart of Vacuo and beyond. Hell, I would do so just to drag you back and slap some sense into you. Look at me," As calmly as he could he pushed his daughter away and tilted her head so their similarly colored eyes were locked. "I've lived long enough to tell you running away _never_ solves anything, it just prolongs the problem. The problem here is clear and present, it just barged into my home and attempted to harm my family, and wounded my guest. I can't run from that nor can I allow it to happen again. I know facing that means challenging a power bigger than myself, it means challenging people I once called my allies. It won't be easy but it's what I have to do." As he finished his speaking he could already see the tears brimming at the edge of Blake's amber eyes. Smiling sadly he wiped them away with his thumbs. "Don't look at me like that, I know you have the power to do the same, you're my daughter so there's no doubt in my mind you can do it."

Before Blake could open her mouth the sliding screen door opened revealing Kali. The two looked at her with baited breath, Blake more so than her father.

Giving her daughter the biggest smile possible she spoke, "He's going to live. Sun won't be doing anything, no running, jumping, or even fighting until the wound completely heals which won't be for possible a week. Beyond a nasty scar he's going to be fine."

At once the strength left Blake as did all the built anxiety causing her to collapse into her mother's arms. Sobbing wrecked her body as the floodgates opened. She felt her father place a hand over her then her mother pull her in deeper. Both of her parents had sandwiched her between their arms, each whispering soft words to her through her sobbing. In a strange way this was the original reasons she came back to Menagerie, to cry into her parents' arms. After everything that had happened, all the suffering all she wanted to do was cry.

At least she could do it into the arms of the two people she knew would always be there for her, no matter how far she ran or how long time passed.

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Her father told her he would talk to some of his old contacts in the White Fang, see what was going on for information. Somehow Blake doubted her father's search would turn up anything positive. _My entire family have become a target…because of me. You're lying here hanging over death's knife because of me._

It was…unnatural to see Sun's normally tan skin so pale. His usually laughing or laid back face eerily silent, if Blake wasn't able to hear his shallow breathing it would have been easy to mistake him for being dead. She watched his chest slowly rise and fall half afraid the pattern would cease and he'd pass from the world of the living. According to her mother he'd briefly awoken three times in the past two days only to fall back asleep. He'd needed the sleep as his Aura was only steadily building back up to heal the damage done. By the third day of rest he should be up and about.

Miraculously the last two days had been peaceful though she doubted that peace would last long. Eventually the White Fang would return to the Belladonna home and when they did Blake doubted it would be in the form of one low ranked grunt. In her heart the thought of Adam knocking the doors down and slaughtering her family became more and more likely despite the logic against it. Adam was back in Vale, or at least that's what she wanted to believe. _But…he must now by now I'm here. If he does come…_ Blake knew Adam, if he had to burn the entire town to cinders to get to her then that's just what he would do, civilians be damned. If that happened her parents would no doubt order her to take Sun and flee. She wouldn't be able to do it, not after Beacon where she left her teammates to fend for themselves. Her mind turned into a storm of what-ifs and alternatives for when the situation came crashing down.

So preoccupied with her own thoughts she didn't notice the peeping eyes of the blond teenager staring at her. How long he'd been watching her she'd never know, what she did know was hearing his voice brought an unheard of sense of elation to her heart. "Man I guess I screwed up if I've got you…looking this depressed."

Amber eyes snapped to Sun in a heartbeat. For a moment Blake didn't do or say anything, and then she threw her arms around him and started sobbing.

"I-I told you this would happen! I told you Sun! Why didn't you listen me?" She shouldn't have been shouting at him or hugging him this tightly but she couldn't help it. Again, accumulative stress had taken hold of her body and worked it in ways she couldn't control.

Blake's sobbing was about the worst thing Sun could have heard. He hated crying period, but hearing Blake, one of the most extraordinary people he'd ever met cry made him feel as if he were in the darkest depths of hell. To make matters worse she was crying over him. _If Neptune or Scarlet were here I'd get an earful, if Yang could see this I'm pretty sure I'd be half way to the moon._ Ignoring the pain in his chest he sat up while bringing both arms around his fellow Faunus' slim form. "I made my choice, can't say it doesn't hurt, but I can't say I regret it."

Almost immediately his words drew a reaction from her. "You almost died! If Ilia had aimed a little lower she could have pierced your heart! Do you realize what that means?" Pulling away she place her right hand over the heavily bandaged patch where the wound was. "Would you have been okay with dying there? On that rooftop? I sure as hell wouldn't and I know Neptune, Sage, and Scarlet wouldn't have."

Biting his cheek again Sun sat up straighter, this time his body was more vocal about the stress it was being put under. Realizing what he was attempting Blake gently pushed his body back down until he was lying against the pillow. "For the record yeah, I know I could have died Blake. I knew that when I left Mistral, hell that was the first thing Sage said to me when he found out what I was planning." With hardened eyes he spoke to Blake, "If I was scared of dying then I wouldn't have left."

Silently taken back Blake found herself speechless for a solid minute. It was rare to see such a determined look in Sun's eyes, outside of combat that is. The steely determination in them reminded her that despite all the jokes and stupidity he was _still_ a Huntsmen-in-training like her, a team leader no less. Recovering her wits she firmly shook her head. "Why would you do something this stupid? Why come after me?"

"Didn't I already answer this question when we were on the boat?" The blond sighed. "Because I care about you and wanted to make sure you were okay."

"So you don't think I'm capable of taking care of myself?!" she fired back feeling her pride having been insulted.

That was when Sun shocked her again, he met her question with equal force in his voice. "When you're calm yeah! Not when you're so caught up in your own problems you wouldn't notice a Nevermore swooping over your head!"

Neither realized this was probably the first true fight they'd had since they'd met each other. Never had either glared at the other with such intensity. Between them Blake was the most shocked by the tense standoff. She never knew Sun could be this…strong willed when talking with someone he considered a friend. Flooding in from the windows the evening light painted his skin a myriad of brighter colors that made her forget how pale he was. Looking into his blue eyes Blake came to the startling realization at this moment-he knew more about her than she knew about him. He'd seen her home, met her parents, practically learned her life story, yet she knew next to nothing about _his_ personal life. The source of this steely defiance was completely alien to her.

All she'd ever known was that he was someone she could depend on. At this moment he was her only ally in this mess.

Taking a step back she mentally calmed herself. As crazy as things were them suddenly going at each other's throats wasn't going to elevate the situation. "Did your team approve of this?" She started trying to picture Neptune, Sage, and Scarlet agreeing to let their leader run off after some Faunus girl they barely knew.

"Yeah, they knew. Sage was a little pissed off that I took so long to make a decision." He admitted looking at the sun's fading rays sliding across the ceiling. "He's in charge of the team while I'm gone."

"You actually cleared this with Haven's headmaster?" Blake asked somewhat shocked.

Swallowing a lump in his throat Sun explained, "The headmaster of Haven…he's not stupid Blake. When Beacon fell and we came back to Haven and gave our reports on the incident he got, well, let's just say the headmaster is kind of paranoid, but in a good way. I…I sort of went to him asking for permission to…I…I just had to find you. After what happened at Beacon I had to make sure you were alright." The slight crack in his voice as he looked at her told Blake coming after her wasn't simply a mission.

She knew Sun too well to believe he'd talked his school's headmaster into making tailing her a mission of any sort of importance. _He begged._ Gentler than before she questioned the monkey Faunus. "Why Sun? What makes me so important that you'd risk everything just to make sure I was alright?"

Answering that question wasn't easy. Sun opened and closed his mouth several times as he tried in vain to formulate some kind of response. The pain in his left side didn't help matters one bit. "It's because…because I care about you okay? Care, yeah, I know stupid, but…Blake, I've seen people like you before." Facing her with a heavy frown he continued. "You think running away and closing yourself off from people keeps you and them from getting hurt when in reality it doesn't. The only one you're protecting is yourself, and even that doesn't last long when you realize how much you miss having people around you. People you can trust, laugh and smile with. Eventually by the time you realize how much of a mistake you've made…it's already too late."

Sun's words were like a sledgehammer to Blake's already fragile psyche. Instead of crying or breaking down she merely felt like the floor had been pulled out from under her feet, the immediate fall didn't scare her in the least. Tightening her grip on her knees she spoke in a quiet voice, "You…sound like you're speaking from experience."

"I am…because my parents were the same way, they had a habit of running from things they didn't like either. Including their own son."

Blake's eyes widen considerable at Sun's words. Staring at him with moon-sized eyes she found herself stammering out incoherent words.

Cracking a sad smile he added, "One of the reasons…I wanted to see you home was because I wanted to know if it was better than the temple that took me in. Now that I've seen it I'll say this, it's smaller but way damn cooler and cleaner." The smile fell away as darker memories began to bubble their way to the surface of his mind. As much as he hated revisiting them if it helped Blake then so be it. "Growing up in Vacuo you run into a lot of people who move out to desert just to escape their problems. It gets old after a while. When I immigrated to Mistral I thought things would be different, turns out people there use money to run away from their problems. Same results though. Blake, let me tell you being a Faunus in Mistral isn't fun. The people there, they're just as racist if not more so than the people in Vale. Do you have any idea how many death threats I got for being a team leader at Haven? When I went to school watching my back against my own classmates was a normal thing." Suddenly narrowing his eyes he spoke his next words with such fire in them Blake could have sworn the Sun she'd knew had been replaced. "Now don't tell me about my life being in danger. White Fang, classmates, if they start shooting at me then there's no difference. What matters is I'm not going to run from them." Pausing to catch his breath he looked to Blake's amber orbs with deadly seriousness. "What the hell do you think you running away is going to accomplish?"

"If…if I'm not around then…Adam, he won't have any reason to come after any of you." She answered in a meek voice.

It wasn't that hard for Sun to realize she was trying to convince herself more than she was him. As painful as it was he was going to have to tear that wall she'd put up down. "Weiss is the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, nothing short of her head on a pike is going to satisfy the White Fang. Yang lost an arm, her _dominant_ arm. From what you've told me about this Adam guy he's not going to stop there, he _knows_ she's still alive and important to you. He won't stop until she's dead so no, running away doesn't protect her. That just leaves…Ruby." It was a low, low blow, but Sun knew Blake needed to hear it. "Do you even know where she is?"

"L-Last I heard…she was with Yang and their father in their hometown." Came the quiet reply of the feline Faunus.

Sitting up again he forced the next words out loud enough that Blake could heard them even if she shut her hands over her ears. "Blake, running away doesn't protect anyone, all it does is hurt yourself and the people you're trying to protect. You left without telling anyone, how do you think they're going to take that? How do you think Yang feels having her partner, her best friend up and abandon her without so much as a goodbye note?"

For a long time Blake's silent sobbing was the only sound in the room. Sun would have given anything to stop Blake's crying. If her father heard Sun had no doubt he'd either be in a body cast or Blake would be shipping his leftovers back to his teammates in a box. Both of those would have hurt less than being the root of Blake's tears. For the dark-haired teenager she would have done anything to deny the truth of Sun's words.

"…That's all I know how to do Sun. For as long as I can remember I've always lived in the shadows." Blake whispered.

"You can't spend your whole life living in the shadows Blake, especially when you're running out of shadows to hide in." Sun grimaced. Reaching out with his right hand he cupped her face causing her to turn to him. "Besides, why do you need to keep living in the shadows when you're perfectly capable of standing in the light, I've seen that with my own two eyes."

It was cheesy and stupid, but Blake found herself smiling at Sun's words. Placing her palm over his hand she allowed herself to bask in the warmth of Sun's hand. For a minute everything seemed to just fall away leaving her alone in this cocoon of peace and joy. Once she had her feel she guided Sun's hand back to his seat. "Get some rest Sun."

"Heh, no arguments here. Just don't…push yourself too hard…" Within a few seconds the blond had shut his eyes and his breathing turned into soft snores.

Now he looked like the Sun she knew and tolerated. _You came all this way, put your life in danger because you believed I was worth it. You did it because you saw things clearer than I did._ She truly had underestimated her half-simian friend. In the past fifteen minutes her respect for the leader of Team SSSN just jumped a few notches. _I guess you do have a brain after all._ Leaning over she placed a kiss on his forehead then stood up to exist the room.

The sun had set all but eliminating most of the natural light in the house allowing darkness to take over. Before closing the door she cast one last glance at the boy's sleeping form. After everything she'd done he'd traveled miles for her. That thought made her heart flutter a little despite her attempts to contain it. _Ruby, Weiss…Yang…would any of you be so forgiving of me?_ In her heart she truly hoped her teammates were safe from harm as she did with the rest of the friends she'd made at Beacon. She had no idea if she'd see any of them though she would have liked to. Maybe one day she would see them again, when she did she knew she would have a lot of explaining to do. Those thoughts dealt with the future. What she now focused on was the present.

Earlier this morning her father had told her he'd come across some information regarding the White Fang's activities. Apparently they hadn't been the only ones who'd been paid a visit two nights ago. As she made her way down the hall towards her father's study her hands tightened into fists.

If the White Fang came again she wouldn't hold back. She didn't know if she had the strength to stop running, but she knew she had the strength needed to defend her home and family. It may not have been much; however, at the moment it was enough. _Maybe one day I'll be able to do it Sun. Maybe one day I'll be able to stop running and stand in the light again someday._

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 **Team RNJR's splitting up, Sun's been fatally wounded, Weiss' planning her great escape, and lastly Qrow is dying, I'm almost too scared to see what happens next episode. I'm ninety-percent sure Sun getting wounded is going to make Blake's mindset worse; I can understand what her intentions were but up and leaving without a word was still a bad move. That's what I wanted this little piece to address-running away never solves a problem it just makes things worse.**

 **You can read the relationship between Blake and Sun as platonic or romantic. Regardless of their canon feelings I do find it touching how Sun was willing to follow Blake all the way to Menagerie to make sure she was okay after the Fall of Beacon. I feel it's been one of the highlights of Volume 4.**

 **That does it for now readers, be safe and take care!**


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